Always appreciate some quiet time leafing through the latest issue of Dwell magazine (with the "at home in the modern world" design sensibility).
This particular issue portrays a diverse range of designers all with strong 'creativity' streaks, but in very different directions. Most pleased to see the husband/wife team of 2 Baltimore-based designers (after living there not too long ago), especially taking note of the blog co-authored by one of them, Ellen the wife: "Design-Your-Life" Blog (which is co-created by 2 identical sisters):
Ellen and Julia Lupton are designers, writers, mothers, teachers, and citizens who have worked in the specialized fields of design and literary studies over the past two decades. We are identical twins whose professional paths have begun to converge. We have become increasingly interested in breaking out of our areas of specialization and sharing our passion for thinking and designing with a broader public. We each have a resume of professional achievements, and we each have a personal story to tell about design and life.
What I particularly appreciate is the "Manifesto" section of their design-oriented blog which reads as follows:
DESIGN YOUR LIFE is not about shopping or decorating. Nor is it about a caste of specialists endowed with mysterious talents and impenetrable secrets.
DESIGN YOUR LIFE is about thinking.
DESIGN YOUR LIFE applies ideas from design theory and practice to some of the basic problems of daily living, from organizing a household and thinking creatively in the workplace to achieving a relaxed and satisfying erotic life. Yes, design can be brought to bear on all of these things, from good housekeeping to hard work to great sex.
DESIGN YOUR LIFE doesn’t mean that you have to have your act together and your drawers all sorted, or that your life is free of challenges. Hey—even Martha Stewart has problems! Indeed, it’s precisely when we feel the need for more order, sigificance, and control that design can enter the picture of our lives and help us compose it.How are people without formal design backgrounds using design in their lives: to make their work days more rewarding, to raise creative children in a consumer world, to enhance the beauty and order of their environments, to communicate with various publics great and small in order to get things done, and to grow old in style? DESIGN-YOUR-LIFE.ORG aims to ask the questions, and start getting the answers, from people like you!
LOVE the focus on thinking and asking questions. While much more talented than yours truly, I think I may have found a long-lost design/teaching soul mate or two! For a quick scan, consider any of the following...or even consider contributing to their blog directly (which ain't a half-bad deal!):
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